Covid, revisited

I can't believe we all have Covid again. The last time was in May of 2022, right before the kids graduated from middle school. Just like that time, Teen A got sick first and passed it on to the rest of us. I didn't even realize he was sick at first (this time), just thought he had allergies. He does NOT like to "give in" to sickness; he powers through as if nothing were happening. Anyway, after a week or more of Teen A coughing and sneezing, Rocket Boy came down with it. This was maybe Wednesday? And he said, "I think I have Covid." "Why would you think that?" I wanted to know. "I just do," he said. "It feels different from a regular cold." So he took a test (we still had some in the linen closet, probably expired but he doesn't believe in expiration dates). And it was positive, in fact, very positive. A very dark line. Oh, shit.

We weren't really sure what you're supposed to do about Covid, in 2025. Are you supposed to quarantine? For how long? Does it really matter? Should we bother wearing masks, since apparently only N95 masks are really that effective, and we don't have any, just stupid little Target masks? We still have a lot of cloth masks, because Sillers likes to carry them around, but they're all dirty and anyway, I don't think they work. But are they better than nothing? Who knows?

Rocket Boy called his doctor's office and they handed him over to a triage nurse who got him a telehealth appointment with his doctor an hour later. He and Dr. Johnson decided he did not need Paxlovid. "Well, you're 70, but you're pretty healthy, except for the lymphedema," I heard Dr. Johnson musing. I wanted to call out, "No, he's not!" but I knew that would annoy him. So I accepted the inevitable. 

Thursday he was very sick, spent a lot of time in bed sniffling. That's MY bed, the very small bed that we share, so I got full exposure. We had planned to go on a college tour of Metro State on Friday, the four of us, and RB still seemed to think he could go. "No, you are NOT going," I told him, firmly. "You are very sick with Covid. You stay home and rest." I went to the grocery store that day and stocked up on things like eggs and bananas. Wish I'd done a little more shopping, but oh well.

Of course, Teen A almost certainly has Covid too, but he's had it for a long time, so I decided he was past the official quarantine period (which is 5 days, apparently). And I was still hoping that Teen B and I weren't going to get it, so I ignored the fact that we were in the pre-symptomatic stage (which is an extremely contagious time, apparently) and the three of us went to Denver on Friday. We took the Prius v, because it has better air conditioning than my car, and Teen A drove, very well. He still likes to speed, but he is much better about keeping a safe distance behind other cars, since his accident. 

Metro State is on the Auraria Campus, one of three colleges that share the space (the other two are CU-Denver and a community college). Rocket Boy went there for a year, in the early 80s, I think, and he also taught there for a couple of semesters at one point, so I was really sorry he wasn't with us. We parked in the 7th Street garage, as we had been directed, and put in the code we had been given for free parking (just like at CSU). There was a young woman there, ready to direct us, but it turned out she was from CU-Denver and wanted to direct us to the wrong place. When I told her we were supposed to go to the Jordan Student Success Center she said, "Oh! I don't even know where that is!" so we had to find it on our own. Fortunately, we could see it from the garage.

Metro State doesn't have a huge fancy auditorium for college tours to begin in, but that seemed appropriate, since it's a lower-cost school. Instead, we were directed to a simple room with chairs that had been set up. At CSU we could have had coffee or tea, at CU-Boulder we were offered water, but at Metro we could have water, tea, hot chocolate, and snacks! Little packages of oreos, candy, things like that. There were also flavored syrups. I dispensed some cold water for myself and added some raspberry syrup, managing to spill it all over the counter (and there were no napkins to clean it up). Still, I thought it was a nice touch, the snacks and all.

Unlike at the other schools, there were only a few people on this tour. I think when we finally got started walking, we totalled 20, including some small children. Maybe 8 prospective students in all. But it was 92 degrees outside, and I don't think Metro attracts a lot of out of state students, so it makes sense. One of the last people to arrive was -- surprise! -- a friend of Teen A's, one I hadn't met before. I didn't meet him on Friday, either, because he disappeared right at the end of the tour. The mystery of Teen A's social life.

Before the tour, a nice young Latina woman gave a presentation. At the other schools, I think someone in charge of admissions was the speaker, but at Metro we were addressed by a counselor -- who was also a recent graduate. She mentioned that she had been a first-generation college student and also a first-generation high school graduate! -- so it was a different vibe. In general, I liked the vibe better than at the other schools, especially snotty CU. I was pleased to know that this college exists, with its 55% students of color and almost 60% first-generation college students. She told us that Colorado residents with at least a 2.0 average are automatically admitted to Metro, so that was a plus (for Teen A). Yes, weirdly enough, Teen A has suddenly gotten interested in going to college. He wants to go to Metro and study aviation science. I don't know where this came from -- a friend? I don't question it, I just go along with it.

I liked our tour guide too, a bouncy young woman in mismatched tennis shoes (one orange, one green), with very long legs in short shorts. She was a music major and had a lot of stage presence, but not in an obnoxious way. Just very pleasant. She dragged us all over the campus in the heat, sweeping us back into air-conditioned buildings as quickly as possible. I forgot to take any pictures until the very end (this shows mainly our parking garage, as we were walking back towards it), but I think it's an attractive campus. Urban, not green and gorgeous like CU and CSU, but still nice. I wish I'd gotten a picture of the great view of the Denver skyline that you get at one point. I was just too hot. I even forgot to use my walking app, but it's fine. We walked enough.

I don't think Teen B was very impressed with Metro. He wants to go to CU, and our tours of CSU and Metro have not changed his mind. I just hope he can get in -- I'm not sure he can. I still think the plan to go to a community college for a year or two and then transfer is a good one. But we'll see. And as for Teen A, he was all in for Metro, asking me when he could apply and how could he get there on the bus, etc. 

On our way home, we went to Starbucks (for Teen B) and Jamba Juice (Teen A and I got smoothies -- I shared mine with Rocket Boy later). And that was all I wanted for dinner. I think Rocket Boy, when he finally got up, had leftover mac & cheese. I don't know what the others had. I took a nap.

And Saturday morning I woke up with a sore throat, so -- hello, Covid. I spent the day quietly, reading chapters of my latest library book interspersed with household chores. I did two loads of laundry, ran the dishwasher, cleaned the litter boxes. That kind of stuff. For dinner we got takeout from the Nepalese restaurant near us. They have good food, but for a moment I wasn't sure I should eat anything, and I couldn't quite finish my rice. 

Today, all I've had to eat is a piece of coffee cake from Starbucks, and I am most definitely not hungry. But yes, we went to Starbucks. I felt so guilty about it, too. I tried to get Rocket Boy to go instead, but Teen B refused to go with Rocket Boy ("He always tries to order a Florentine and they don't know what it is!") (in my experience, Rocket Boy always orders a "decaf chai," but same problem, since they don't have it), so to keep the peace, I went. I was going to wear a mask, but I hate masks, so I didn't even do that. I thought, oh well, the people who work at Starbucks are young, they won't get that sick. And at least I'm not coughing or sneezing yet. But it was a bad call.

So anyway, what a way to end our not very fun summer vacation! I'll need to quarantine at least until Thursday, so that means no trips to ice cream parlors, etc. Oh well. Back to School night is the 18th, and we SHOULD be healthy and able to attend by then.  

Of course, Teen B is sick now too, and that means he should not be going to Picture Day on Tuesday. But I'm going to let him go anyway, assuming he feels up to it. Probably at least a quarter of the students also have Covid, since it's surging in Colorado and Teen A has probably been dispersing it across his wide social network over the past two weeks.  

In the meantime, I'm going to go sit in the living room, read a book from the piles by my bed (NOT a new book from the library, because I am NOT going to the library this week), and watch my beautiful hummingbirds. And maybe take a nap.

Today is our 23rd wedding anniversary -- and we're not going out. In sickness and in health, as my sister says. Maybe next year.